Mubasher: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering an early transfer of a part of its profit to the government which aims to finance populist pledges ahead of a national election.

After missing tax collection and asset sales targets, any payment from the RBI will contribute in part to financing the government’s budget deficit in the year ending March, Bloomberg News reported on Monday

The RBI’s central board may announce its decision on the interim payment later on Monday, the Indian central bank’s governor Shaktikanta Das said after a meeting with India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley.

The RBI has allocated about INR 280 billion ($4 billion) in interim dividend to the Indian government.

India’s finance ministry previously requested the transfer of INR 270 billion of surplus capital withheld by the RBI in the prior two fiscal years.

Although officials at the finance ministry estimated that the RBI holds not less than INR 3.6 trillion more capital than it needs, a recent study conducted by the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning showed that the central bank has insufficient capital.

In 2018, Urjit Patel abruptly resigned as the RBI governor amid tensions with the finance ministry which demanded a greater share of its capital.